Safety
by MonPetitLoupDeMort
Summary: Asch gets alone time alone. Luke and Guy get alone time together. Asch should have known that the idiot wouldn't be able to keep out of his business, even when trying to do so. Now they're left to deal with this strange relationship they had started.
1. Awkward Beginnings

Asch is enjoying a quiet night in the Keterburg Inn. He had gotten the room for much cheaper than he expected, something about a screaming ghost, which was of course nonsense. He hadn't run into his moron replica and its posse, or even a trace, a mention of them, at all today, which is a nice change of pace. He has a good book, a tall candle, and nothing to do the rest of the evening. Yes, he could have gotten a fonstone light, but he prefers the soft flickering of a candle late at night, at least for pleasure reading. Sure, tomorrow he'd have to move on, but Ginji had been delayed when getting supplies, so he has to spend the night here anyway. He might as well do the relaxing that he couldn't when that idiot was around.

* * *

Luke is happy. He had been almost sure Guy was hinting at something special when he suggested that they break off from the group for a bit, get Noelle to drop them off at Belkend for the checkups Lady Suzanne had been requesting. The requests were nothing new, but they were usually to busy to oblige. But this time Guy had been insistent that the rest of the group could get along without them for a few days, in order to assuage Lady Suzanne's fears. It would have seemed totally innocent, but Luke knew something that the rest of them didn't. It was approaching the one year anniversary of when Luke not-quite-accidentally slipped up and let loose that he liked Guy, of them trying out being something more than just very close friends.

The drop-off was done, farewells said, and meet-up plans arranged. The checkups went quickly, both pronounced to have clean bills of health, and then they had the rest of the few days to themselves.

The inn was tidy, respectable. Guy had gone ahead of him, ostensibly to book a room for them and get to sleep, while Luke wandered the shopping district for a little while. When he deemed the time sufficient, or rather, when the suspense would have killed him to wait any longer, he headed back to the inn.

He had expected Guy still awake, possibly even expected the flowers in the vase, clearly the same as the ones he admired at home. He had not at all expected the candles or the small fontech machine in the corner, playing a soft melody. After allowing himself the thought that Guy is a hopeless romantic, he reminds himself that he loves it, despite his common protests to the contrary. Guy had to know that, to continue on in the way he does.

Climbing onto the bed to join Guy, Luke leans over to kiss him, slow and soft. A thank you for all this, this vacation, this getaway, this setup. When it ends, he only pulls away a little.

"You remember too," he says. Guy grins lazily at him.

"Of course. Your clumsy adorableness is impossible to forget," Guy chuckles. At that, Luke grins too, sheepishly.

Luke and Guy lay there, just looking at each other a while longer, but it soon becomes evident that Guy wants to say something, but has no idea how to begin. He smiles again, almost apologetically, like he's going to break something, and he knows it.

Luke only becomes more curious as to what he's going to say, and tries his best to look encouraging. It must have worked, at least somewhat, because Guy gathers up his wits and begins.

"I know we talked a bit back about this... and if you're not ready... no pressure... but if you're waiting because you don't think I'm ready... I just wanted to tell you I- I'm ready to-" Luke understands and cuts him off before his rambling can get anymore incoherent.

"You're trying to say you wanna sleep with me in a 'more-than-just-two-friends-sharing-a-bed' way, yes?" Luke says, amusedly. Guy looks at once relieved and terrified

"Yes! No... well sorta. If you're ready..." He looks back up at Luke, who is enjoying this role reversal far too much.

"If this is how I look in that state of 'adorable clumsiness' you like so much, I think I'm beginning to see the appeal," he says, cheekily.

Luke had made up his mind already, and he had just been waiting for Guy to bring it up again. Guy had his physical intimacy issues, still occasionally shying back when Luke got too bold. He wasn't sure if that was because he looked a bit, just a bit mind you, girlish, or Guy's still vaguely lingering issues with the fon Fabre family. But he hadn't wanted to shove Guy into a quick decision about something so significant, so he had waited until Guy had come back to it of his own accord. He is pleased to no describable degree that it happened so soon, but after realizing that this train of thought had gone on far too long without giving Guy a real answer, Luke decides to give him a proper answer. In the form of leaning up and practically tackling Guy into a kiss, more insistent and needier that the last one, pressed closer, sliding his left hand up along Guy's neck to caress his hair, then tug him closer yet.

When he pulls back, grinning triumphantly, Guy opens his mouth to affirm the answer verbally, but Luke never even lets him speak.

"Of course that's a 'yes'. What kind of 'no' would it be?"

"A really cruel one," Guy said, before returning the grin and grabbing Luke's arm to kiss his way up it. Luke shifted it a little, getting a displeased sound from Guy, which he more than made up for by using the new angle to begin in on Guy's neck. The contrast of Guy's warm skin and the cold metal dangling from his collar was delectable.

He rechecks his mental block to keep his fon-slots from accidentally transmitting any of this to Asch, or receiving anything from him for that matter. He doesn't want anything to interrupt them or break the mood. He and Guy don't get chances like this very often, and he is determined that nothing will ruin this. But with that secured, his attention is needed urgently in other areas, like finding that spot behind Guy's ear that made him moan when Luke nipped it.

* * *

Asch is well into chapter sixteen of his book, and well on his way to being lulled to sleep by the quiet and the candlelight, when he feels something snap. He has only a moment of alertness to register that he isn't in any physical pain, and that none of his bones had broken before he feels like he is being dragged through something cottony.

He doesn't know how, but this has to be his replica's fault. It is so dead the next time he sees it. It always managed to ruin whatever he was trying to do, while hardly even breaking a sweat.

As his senses return to him, he realizes that he now feels... well, rather nice, if sore. Warm, or pleasantly buzzed even. There are, however, by far too many seventh fonons concentrated around him, and though it feels nice and adds to the high, they could be dangerous in these high levels, especially around him, so he dissipates them. And he really needs the rest of his senses back sooner than later to assess the situation.

They slowly returned, one by one. It still smells of candle, only more strongly than before. His mouth doesn't taste funny, so that discounts drugging. His vision clears, and that couldn't possibly be right, because Guy is right in his face, calling his name. No, not his name, he realizes, anger mounting again.

"Luke, Luke, are you OK? Score, what if I did something wrong..." Guy sounds worried.

"What the fuck." Asch growled, mustering a glare. Guy starts and scrambles backwards.

How had Guy gotten to his room? And... undressed? All except that ridiculous collar. But before he can process that, and the implications thereof, he realizes that he isn't in his room. Or rather that he himself isn't here in this room that isn't his. Not unless Guy had given him a haircut and a makeover in the two seconds he had passed out for.

The left hand that instinctively reaches up questioningly when he goes to examine to the not-his hair seals the idea. The replica is left handed.

He is in the replica's body, naked, in bed with Guy, who was also naked, burning off the last traces of an orgasm with his still rising anger.

He does not appreciate this. He considers screaming at Guy, but there is someone infinitely more worthy of his attention and ire just coming to his senses, in a much slower, more panicked way back in Asch's room. And Asch's body.

Projecting his anger forcefully across at the moron, since whatever it had done to cause this had left them almost completely open to each other, he feels the replica cringe, to his satisfaction.

Some of that dies, however, when the thing starts babbling incoherently at him. It seems to have no idea what it had done to them itself, and trust the thing to mess up this monumentally on pure coincidence. It takes some kind of skill to screw up on this magnitude without carefully orchestrating it.

But now the replica is panicking about his disappeared lover- Score, that it was Guy was just so-, and Guy had started nattering at him worriedly about returning Luke, 'Now, if he pleases.' in that vaguely pleasantly threatening tone.

He wrenches the idiot's attention away from his ever sinking spiral of panic, and directs it to Guy, through his eyes, showing him to be quite safe, but also quite annoyed.

Now fix this, he commands it. But it has no idea how, and it's so open to him, he's drawn in as it's mind rambles on. One moment he and Guy were, and it was good, so good, and he was keeping it closed, so none of this bothered HIM, and but, it, everything reached fever pitch at once, inside and outside, and it felt like an explosion, breaking, there they were, coming down from his shared ecstasy to a more literal ecstasy.

Asch tries to extract himself from the thing's thoughts to analyze them more clearly. Wait, had it said outside? Those fonons he had dispersed with barely a thought... A dangerous thing, but why had they been they there, they should have siphoned off safely to him at that slow rate of accumulation?

Then it hits him, the thing had closed him off entirely, like the moron it is. Not just thoughts, communications, and feelings, but fonon flow as well. Everything. Of course it didn't know that they needed to be able to pass fonons back and forth to prevent an accidental hyperresonance when such wild feelings were involved. He was just thankful some kind of safety mechanism had stepped in before it had gone too far. Even if it was an extremely irritating one.

It cringes again and again at his angry thoughts, probably hitting it as if Asch were shouting at the top of his lungs and throwing things. Which is probably what he would be doing if he were in the same room with it. It had wanted to do something right, it had thought ahead for once, had tried it's best to not bother Asch. Its best is never enough. It always makes things worse.

Score, the thing is depressive. It's even taken to referring to itself as a thing. Asch is glad he hadn't have to deal with this much insight into it's head on a regular basis.

Shut up and focus on fixing this, he asserts over the idiot's laments.

"Shut up and let us focus on fixing this. You'll get your moron back." He adds aloud, for Guy's benefit.

It is awkward and slow, and feels like something between trying to get by someone in a tiny tunnel and trying to actually pass through someone, and for a terrifying moment he is unsure of who or where he is, but they get back into their own bodies.

He relaxes minutely for a second once there, again taking stock of the situation. He feels like himself, his own body so much more comfortable than someone else's. The conflict between his mind trying to do one thing and a body used to a different mind trying to do another is impossible to imagine until experienced.

He feels no obvious injuries, although he is sure that his spine had been stretched to it's limit, and maybe Luke's voice was used to going that high, but he would be sore and possibly raspy for at least a day. And the Inn staff would have some new and interesting 'screaming ghost' stories to tell, he was sure. It must have been the exact moment of pleasure that he had been whisked away in.

He feels at the still entirely open connection, more open than ever before, and listens to Luke explaining what had happened to them, amusing, seeing as his replica doesn't really have much of an idea of what had happened, just it's own conjectures and what it gleaned from Asch's thoughts. He looks away as it takes a turn towards the intimate when Guy starts showing Luke his gratefulness for Luke's safe return, instead of just telling.

He goes back to his book as he feels the thing flush at his amused mental reminder that they have an audience. It slowly, carefully starts blocking off the connection again, piece by piece. Asch leaves him to it, just chiding him to be mindful of the fonon flow, and showing him the part to keep open. He pretends to ignore the wave of thankfulness the thing sends him for teaching it, before it closes off the rest of the connection again altogether.

* * *

A little more than twenty minutes later, Asch finds visuals of things not his room or his book dancing before his eyes. It solidifies into Luke's view, and he is too stunned for a moment to do anything but watch the two of them. He blinks, but it's still there behind his closed eyes. Then comes the sound. Asch shivers, and can still do nothing but watch in stunned silence.

Luke asks Guy to pause, not stop, pause. He turns his attention to Asch, apologetically, reopening mental communication. I can't concentrate enough like this to close everything but keep the fonon flow open. An echo of the feeling of danger-warning Asch had sent it before returns to him. Sorry, but this way that entire section of the connection is kept open and doesn't need specific attention. If you could just ignore it? Some of Luke's need to be an active participant with Guy leaks across to Asch, despite its obvious reluctance to share what he thinks will anger Asch.

Asch gives his most put upon grumble, but acquiesces. Let the moron have his- its fun, he'd make sure it didn't blow up any more towns while doing so. He kept that last thought to himself, the thing was quite depressive enough as it is. What he does share is a hint of vague approval for being less passive.

He seizes control of the connection, and is about to push Luke out of his mind again when Guy gets impatient and starts up again. With so much of Luke's mind still in his, Asch receives a good amount of whet Luke is feeling before Luke leaves with a quick, overly cheerful if vaguely distracted thanks.

Asch knows that, if he concentrated, he could narrow the connection back down to nothing but the fonon flow. But then he'd have to go to bed, because the level of concentration required would not allow him to read, or do much of anything other than lay there. Not that he's going to get any reading done this way.

The more he tries to ignore it, the more he is enticed by his own private showing of his replica and the closest thing he has to a friend being so intimate. Luke's guilt had led him- it to confessing to Guy about letting Asch watch so that it could concentrate, participate.

While that had led to a few awkward minutes, it doesn't seem to deter either of them in the least once they get going. Score, do they get going. Either they don't mind their viewer, or they had entirely forgotten about him, likely the latter. That seemed to happen a lot with him.

At this point, turning away is a lost cause. He is entranced, and somewhat aroused, by it all. He does, however, resist the urge to open the connection further, blend himself into Luke, his- its- his sensations and feelings. His outward reason is that Luke would notice, and it would be awkward, rude- did that ever stop him doing anything before- but he knew he wouldn't be able to leave, go back to how it was before, the cold nothing, if he does. It would be hard enough as things stood now.

But as all things must, this show is drawing to a close as well. One more- and he can see the bliss in Guy's face, hear it in Luke's voice saying Guy's name. His guilt begins to return. This is private, intimate, things not meant for him, he has no place here... He nearly cringes as Guy leans in for one more kiss, and Luke closes his eyes. He has just about convinced himself to let it go, push it out of his mind and never return to any of this when his resolve is broken by two tiny things, the same thing.

Guy mouths a word to him against Luke's lips- when had the connection slipped open that far, that he could feel it- , and Luke sends him a word, bound with emotion. The same word. For both of them a question, an invitation, a thanks, a wish.

His name.

Asch.

They remembered him, accepted him, wanted him there. And he wanted to be there. Why had anything else mattered? He- They would never go back to before, he knew it now, and it was fine. Good. The best damn thing that had happened in a long time.

His concentration dropped, defenses abandoned, he was carried away on his own wave of bliss, riding it back to Luke.

For the first time, he asked before borrowing Luke's body, not just snatching it away. He said his thanks, to the both of them, then did what he had wanted the entire time of watching and kissed Guy, reveling in the sensations of Luke inside and Guy outside.


	2. The New Normalcy

AN: These are just some random wrap-up and fun scenes and snipbits I have written up for this continuity. Mostly a couple of things I wanted to clarify or get out of the way before getting to the next stuff. I have a bunch more actually semi-plot (or as close as this is going to get to one) continuing stuff written for this, but that'll need a lot more polishing before it sees the light of day. And I'm only gonna start posting that when it's completely finished to the end. Will likely end up five chapters in all.

Every time I go to work on Sleepwalking, with all the depressedness and evilness, the happy-fluffy plunnies for this come out to play like clockwork. It's rather annoying, so by finishing this up now, I hope to get back to Sleepwalking sooner.

* * *

Some days Asch thinks Luke planned all this, the three of them, but could his replica really be that devious?

Asch knows that it's the fonon of sound, so yes, it makes sense that sounds would be transmitted in the same area of their channel as seventh fonons. But sight? And, at the end that first time, he had been not just seeing and hearing, but feeling too. He couldn't have done that without permission, detection.

Every time he's thinking about this, seriously mulling the concept over, Luke does something absolutely moronic and blows his theory straight out of the water. He's not sure if that makes him more or less suspicious of his replica's cunning.

But it worked out well enough, so he lets it be.

* * *

Asch had thought it would be a one time thing, merely some lust-induced haze on the replica's and the servant's parts that had led them to invite him in. But it kept happening, both mental and physical invitations to join them. Even he couldn't deny their conscious willingness in this strange relationship anymore.

And now he'd have to seriously consider actually using their names more often. He doubted they'd appreciate being called 'the replica' or 'the servant' if it happened to slip out. And with the rep- Luke spending a lot more time in his head anyway, it would probably be a good idea to get rid of those nasty old habits. Or at least try.

* * *

For the longest time they hadn't been able to all be there physically. Luke or Asch was always detained by something, needed in some other place.

It hadn't caused too many problems when Luke was the one there because Asch was mostly content to watch. When Asch was the one there, Luke kept wanting to get in on the action. Guy really didn't mind which of them got to be moving the body as long as both were present and watching.

The first time it's actually all three of them, physically present... 'Wow' is all that Asch can think afterwards.

It's a whole new dynamic.

And despite the fact Asch misses the totally mind-blowingly unique feeling of Luke running his mental fingers along Asch's nerves, following the same pattern Guy was tracing on his skin from the outside, Luke makes up for it entirely. Repeatedly.

* * *

Luke wants to know what fucking someone is like, having sex with someone is like, sleeping with someone is like, and making love to someone is like.

Guy is totally game for it, even if it is a strange idea. Only Luke would even come up with something like that.

Asch thinks he's being a moron, seeing as they're all the same thing.

But by the end of the night he might, just might, agree that the idiot had a good idea, for once. That is, if his mind ever came out of the pleasant haze it currently resided in.

* * *

"You sit over there, Guy." Luke points towards the chair next to the bed.

"Is this really necessary?"

"Yes, you are going to share in the frustration of having to watch without doing anything while your two lovers are right in front of you having a great time. It'll be a great bonding experience," Luke says with forceful cheer.

"But-"

"And I wanna try something out."

Guy looks to Asch, but finds no sympathy whatsoever. In fact, Asch looks like he wouldn't terribly mind being where Guy is now. Sighing and resigning himself to whatever Luke's whimsy has dreamed up this time, Guy sits as he had been bid to.

Luke and Asch look at him, possibly to ensure his compliance isn't just temporary, glance at each other, then close their eyes. Guy has the distinct feeling that something is going on that he can't see, but can't quite find a specific reason why he would think that. He also has the feeling that he should know what it is, as if he had seen it recently.

It isn't until their eyes open and Asch is tossing his head in a strange way while Luke flexes his left hand, then his right, that Guy realizes what he had just witnessed. They had switched bodies again, but willingly this time. Guy hadn't even known that was possible.

"Was having this much hair really this heavy?" Luke asks, his voice wavering between Asch's customary growl and his own chirp.

"Figures that that'd be the first thing you ask about…"

"What? It's annoying!"

"I'm not cutting it, so deal with it. Anyway, don't we have more important matters to be getting to now?"

"What-" Guy can't even form a coherent sentence as he watches them bickering from the wrong bodies.

"Who hasn't wanted to do it with themselves at least once in their life?" Asch asks with a smug grin. His arrogant attitude harkens back to the old Luke, the long haired Luke, with the same posture and smug superiority.

"And who hasn't wanted to see if Asch's face could do this?" Luke says, before going into the most pitiful whimpering puppy-dog-eyes expression Guy has ever seen. It's not quite Luke and not quite Asch and causes Guy to mentally short circuit again for a minute.

"I'm gonna kill you for that!" Asch snarls, his rage playing across Luke's face in an unnatural way. He reaches for his sword, which is of course not on Luke's body, and it takes him takes a moment to remember where Luke straps his sword. Watching him try to get it out first with a clumsy right hand, then an awkward left hand is almost comical to Guy.

By the time he has the sword drawn and pointed, Luke is standing right in front of him, all defenses down. Asch pauses.

"Come on, weren't you gonna hit me or something?" Luke asks innocently, spreading his arms to make a better target.

Asch growls a curse as he realizes what Luke is getting at. He'd just be beating his own body up, and as much as that might amuse Luke, it isn't going to happen.

But Luke is grinning saccharinely again, thrilled at his victory and escape, and it sickens Asch to see that expression on his own face. So he drags Luke down onto the bed, and they go to work putting on a show that Guy would not soon forget.

* * *

Luke is not going to let anything mess this up, now that they've struck some sort of balance, found some kind of happiness.

So, when he discovers Asch skirting something in his mind every time Luke is there, holding out and occasionally giving Guy suspicious looks, he gives Asch an ultimatum. Either Asch talks to Guy about what's bothering him, or Luke will dig around in his head and drag it out of him forcefully. He knows where it is, it's like an exactly thought-shaped hole appears in Asch's mind whenever Guy's in the room.

Asch does not doubt his replica's resolve in this matter, and knows he probably should have addressed it sooner.

That's how Asch ends up pulling Guy aside and asking bluntly, "How could you accept me so quickly, so easily, after...?"

The words won't come to him, but he doesn't want to say them anyway, make them real, and Guy knows what he's saying. Guy considers him seriously for a moment before smiling and answering him.

"Because, for some ungodly reason that I don't yet understand, you make Luke happy. Everything else is secondary to that." Guy says with a shrug.

Asch is taken aback by the total point-blank honesty, selflessness.

"I-" And Asch isn't sure what he wants to say, whether he wants to apologize or commend or argue, so he just stops and stares.

Of course, this is when Luke chooses to pop in and hang himself off Guy, proudly proclaiming, "Don't worry, I'll help you figure it out! And Asch'll help too, right?"

"Meh, like I know what you see in me."

"Whaaaat? You mean I have two slow pupils to teach?"

"Hey, now," Guy says, sounding hesitant and holding his hands up as if he could stave off the conflict brewing.

"Don't worry, it's not your brains that I love either of you for!" And Luke runs off, knowing they'll give chase. Asch follows quickly, scowling and fuming. Guy follows slightly after, watching the two of them.

"Get back here, dreck! When I catch you, I'll teach YOU a thing or two!"

Guy laughs, and wonders if this isn't what Luke meant by teaching after all.


	3. Duties, Pranks, and Retribution

AN: Well, I had free time and felt ambitous, so I finished cleaning this story up today. There are five chapters total. I was going to post one chapter per day, but I'm going to be busy most of this weekend, so I'm posting this now and the rest when I get back.

* * *

Asch doesn't have all this free time his replica is demanding. Well, as close to demanding as he ever gets, which is admittedly not very close.

But Asch still has important things to tend to, like planning and meetings.

"A very important meeting with Noir that can not be cut short or delayed, no matter how horny you are, nor how much Guy makes that face," he tells them. To devil with the both of them.

Luke pouts sullenly, but Guy acquiesces with relative ease. If Asch had been paying more attention to them and less to preparing and leaving for said meeting, he might have noticed that it was far too easy an agreement, and might have been prepared for what was to come.

But he doesn't and leaves unsuspectingly, leaving Guy and Luke alone in the room at the inn. Guy looks at Luke and it takes Luke a moment to register the meaning if the devious grin Guy had let out as soon as the door had closed behind Asch.

"What do you say we give our captive audience a good reason to come back soon?" Guy says.

"I've got an even better idea," Luke says after catching on, then proceeds to explain his plan to Guy. Guy laughs at the sheer audacity of it, and instantly agrees that Luke's idea is much better.

* * *

Noir knows all the signs of attraction, subtle and blatant. She also knows Asch isn't attracted to her or any of hers, that having been repeatedly demonstrated in all their previous dealings.

So when Asch starts showing subtle, barely readable signs of arousal in the middle of their meeting, she almost thinks she must be mistaken for once, but she's never been before... And this is what she makes her living off of, reading people and playing them.

Of course, the mixed anger signals she was picking up from him point towards some kind of mistake on her part. What could cause him to become both aroused and murderously angry at the same time? But if it could happen to someone, it would likely be Asch, with the constant duality of his nature.

It gets to the point where they're going nowhere because of whatever problem Asch is having, so she orders them coffee, and subtly signals for it to be cool and spilled on Asch. She's grateful for whatever's distracting him and keeping him from realizing that it had been purposeful. She really needs to train her new subordinates more in the arts of subtlety.

He just takes the chance to excuse himself to the bathroom. She puts an 'Out of Order' sign on the door immediately after he enters. Wouldn't do to have him kill one of her people because they walked in on something embarrassing.

* * *

The first thing he does once in the bathroom is smack himself hard across the face, followed by punching the wall.

Luke flinches at the pain, being fully shared with him, then pipes up with, _Well, if you're into masochism, you should've just told us,_ because if he's dying, he's taking Asch's pride with him, and going to get the maximum amusement possible out of it.

Asch just watches for a bit, because he's absolutely failing at ignoring them, try though he might. He is so not going to give Luke the dignification of a response. But what's going on at Luke's end of their connection is very distracting, and he leans against a wall, forgetting all about that not talking to Luke thing.

"Unfair. You know you being all aggressive is a turn-on for me."

_Me just _being_ is a turn on for you. _

"My point is still valid."

Guy's voice cuts in. _"Luke, cut it out. I'm here, he's not. Stop tuning me out!"_

"You could start tuning me out."

Luke's back. _Yeah, we all know how well that worked the last time. _

"I'd say the results were satisfactory."

_You know that's not what I meant. _

"And you know I know. Your point is?"

But at that point, Guy had gotten fed up with being ignored, so he forcibly took Luke's and therefore Asch's attention back.

* * *

Asch gets his revenge. They should have known he wouldn't just let it go. It is Asch, after all. And revenge is ever so much fun, especially of this sort.

Asch's gone off to bed early, while Luke and Guy are staying up, chatting with their friends.

Asch starts thinking porn-thoughts at Luke, reliving their last 'encounter' in detail. Luke squirms a moment, before trying to compose himself and pretend nothing is going on.

Asch pauses momentarily when the friends start to get worried that Luke's coming down with something from the way he's flushed and his pupils are dilating. Although the necromancer looked far too amused at the thought for Asch's tastes. It certainly wouldn't do to have the fun end early by getting Luke sent to bed.

But whenever Luke is in the middle of saying something, Asch'll do something to himself that is sure to elicit a quiet gasp or moan from Luke. He's very proud of himself when he manages to get Luke's voice to crack twice during a single sentence. He's working up to the point where Luke won't even be able to finish a sentence soon.

Guy had been starting to panic, but he had figured out what was going on when Luke made _that_ noise and sent him a pleading look. Then Guy started to panic in earnest. If this was Asch's revenge on Luke, his own had to be waiting just around the corner. Surely he wouldn't be so callous as to take advantage of Guy's trauma in that revenge. Maybe.

The conversation was saved becoming awkward by way of Luke suddenly jumping up and claiming to actually be sick and rushing for the 'bathroom', Guy following quickly to help.

Skipping the bathroom entirely, Luke dodged into his and Guy's room, letting Guy in, then locking the door behind them. Of course, he hadn't had the foresight to check exactly which room Asch was taunting him from, so he is surprised when Guy goes rigid next to him. Turning around, he sees Asch waiting on their bed with a predatory grin.

He was later thankful that Asch had already had his fill of torture-revenge, and had decided it was time for payback of a much more pleasant sort. Payback in kind for what they had done earlier. Luke decides that he doesn't mind this kind of revenge that much, and that maybe he'll have to pull more pranks on Asch if this is the reward they would get.


	4. Integration

Guy can't help but be jealous. He knows they don't mean to, and that having both of them, them having each other and still wanting him should make him more deliriously happy than anything else, but he can't forget that they have something between them he can't share, can't be a part of.

It hurts him, and he tries to be happy and not show the pain, but Luke knows and Asch sees.

It is swiftly becoming unbearable to him, the oneness of motion, the silent communication, asking one a question and having the other respond.

Luke can't take any more of this silent breaking, and does what he does best. He comes up with a crazy, impossible, moronic idea that has no chance of working, but that he will force to work out of sheer bold-minded force of will.

The curse slot had already messed with Guy's fon slots and frequencies. He had been tied to Sync, for a short time, at a short range. With the combined focus and powers of Lorelei's scions and the willing participation and absolute trust Luke is shamed to ask for, but is freely given by Guy, they can retune that one fon slot of Guy's to their frequency. Maybe. Use it, not to control him, but to share with him some tiny part of what they share with each other.

It takes several long sessions and hours of working with closely controlled hyperresonances, but they put the finishing touches on their modifications. It wouldn't be perfect or easy for any of them, if it worked at all. All they could do is wait for Guy to wake up now.

* * *

Guy awakes to the most horrible pain he has ever felt. He doesn't remember drinking last night, which he hopes isn't an ill portent, but the pain only intensifies, and he doesn't think anything other than 'Make it stop!', before his coherency slips below the threshold of articulated thoughts.

Luke is standing near the bed, as he had been since they finished, watching worriedly as Guy curls in on himself in pain. Asch approaches Luke from behind.

"Back off, moron," Asch says after a moment of Luke doing nothing but fretting.

"But... he needs..."

Asch sighs and shakes his head.

"Not physically."

Luke examines his mental connections. Oh. He's practically draped all over Guy, and still clinging to Asch as well. Guy is mentally panicking, almost as bad as if Luke were a woman physically touching him. Of course Guy didn't yet know how to tell what was wrong, how to pull away and make it stop.

"Um. Sorry."

He pulls away from Guy, carefully, leaving him ample mental space. He starts to separate from Asch as well, but a light mental tugging, almost missable, from Asch, makes him pause to reconsider. If this is his constant mental-standby whenever he isn't paying specific attention... And Asch does know how to pull away...

He turns and nuzzles Asch's neck as he lets himself fall back into his mental place, appreciation, amusement, and understanding passing silently between them. Guy interrupts, once his mental facilities kick back to working order, now that the pain is receeding.

"Score, you called this 'just a headache'?" he says after it fades as much as he figures it's going to. "How did you even remain standing? Much less talking?" It'd been worse than any hangover, or broken bone, and it stings like a bitch still.

"Sorry." Luke says again, shamedly. He should have known, paid attention. He'd made it harder for-

Asch bites him. _None of that now_, he commands sharply. Luke smiles weakly. Guy cocks his head a little, like he's listening to something.

Then the emotional atmosphere twists sharply, and it isn't hurting him anymore because he understands, welcomes it. He forces words out.

"I- I heard that... Your lips didn't move, but I heard you..." He's shaking, but wonder has overtaken terror. He tackles Luke, dragging both him and Asch to the bed as best he can. He can't get enough of it, and it feels to them like he mentally tackles them as well.

They tussle for a while, the only sounds heard are laughing and growling. But they're talking too, and Guy is so grateful, so awe filled at this new perception that changes everything into a new world, that he just can't stop. He's been in them before, but he's never been _in_ them before, not like they had been in each other.

It's a long time before he's coherent enough to try his own mental voice. He makes a fumble of it, and they're both laughing, and he's surprised how different they sound from each other in here. Luke sounds tangy, vibrant, and other words that shouldn't be able to describe a sound, feeling. Asch sounds steady, not bitter but a little burnt, and 'home-protect-mine'.

They're listening to him, his unarticulated feeling-thoughts, and they realize they hadn't noticed either, so accustomed to themselves that it was just a self, not-self distinction. Now, with three...

Guy wonders what he sounds like to them, wants to know, but he can't quite get the hang of speech yet. He's watching them and listening, and learning amazingly fast. But for now he just wants to show his appreciation, which he does know how to do, outside, if not inside yet, so he does.

* * *

And it continues working, day after day, to the shock of all involved. It can't do much, barely listening to their mental-vocal communication on Guy's part at first, but he's learning quickly to use it to the full potential. Luke hasn't seen him so happy in a long time.

And, as they had learned, Luke and Asch together, that physical contact, closeness, made usage so much freer, easier, opener, they decide to make his first experiences with it as easy and simple and very, very enjoyable as humanly possible.

* * *

How do you find yourself, after that? Guy isn't sure how to know him from not-him in this new, strange, dizzying continuum.

He asks them, but they're little help, nothing about the situation articulateable, and to try mentally is to defeat the entire purpose.

He doesn't need to know how Luke finds, stays himself. Doesn't need to know how Asch find, stays himself. He needs to find how Guy can be himself, others, and return, stay, find himself again. It's nearly impossible to find an answer when the question itself is so hard to grasp.

This never-alone is scary, but that will fade with the fading of the newness, he hopes. They've had all their lives, life, to get used to this, admittedly not too long, but still longer than him.

And his only other experiences with these sorts of sensations, emotions, feelings had been entirely negative, traumatic, and devoted to fighting it. But accepting it is terrifying as well.

How far? Where does he strike the balance between fighting to stay him, and allowing himself to be shared-self?

_Welcome to my issue. _And that's Asch. They'd yet to break him of his mental eavesdropping habit, especially with someone new to listen to._ This is why he's, Luke's, either some kind of moron or some kind of genius. He doesn't have these issues._

It had never seemed this complicated from the outside, but Guy hopes it'll be worth it. They're making the effort, he's a newness to them, he knows, feels, sees. Opening to someone so obviously not private-self nor their shared-self, especially with the hostile feelings he knows he projects, but can't help every first split second of connection-opening, hurts a little.

The curse slot connection is perfectly utile, but had not ever been meant to be used this way. He can't decide whether to curse or bless Sync. But they're the ones left to deal with this situation they've created. They will make it work, they just need time, time they will make for themselves now.

* * *

When Guy finally breaks past whatever had been holding him to mental-vocal communication, a whole new world of discovery awaits him. They open their minds to him freely, and he can hardly help diving straight in to experience everything.

Asch's emotions manifest as temperature gradients and weather, straightforward but volatile, with subtle undercurrents. Luke's are colors and sounds, or something similar to the concept of sounds and colors, but inarticulable, unimaginable.

Guy and Asch both know Luke is more adept in the mental realm, intuitive and adaptable, unlike how they're bound to their physical conceptions of how mentality works. They manifest as people in the mind, senses used to judge it, interpret it, while Luke is impossible feelings and absurd notions, limited only by his own self-imposed boundaries, which are odd and jagged and strange, entirely out of line with Asch's and Guy's concepts of where the boundaries are. The impossible and amazing moron, their astounding and adorable idiot.

Luke is feeling decidedly put out at this train of thought, so they glance at one another, the only confirmation needed, then tackle him from either side, smuggling him aboard the next mental train they've manifested, and look for ways to distract him.

Like tickle wars.

* * *

Figuring out their turn-ons and habits had been a great game in Guy's opinion. So far they were always related, but never quite the same as one another.

Like how Luke loves the vibrations of talking and moaning against his skin, while Asch can't get enough of teasing sounds out of them, listening intently. They leave hickeys everywhere, but while Luke makes his by slow, torturous sucking and teasing, Asch can never resist biting and nipping. Luke is intuitive, seeming to know without them saying anything what they wanted him to do, while Asch is observant, able to take even the minutest of cues, hints, and read their meaning. Their hands rove, touching everything, Luke always with his full palm, or even the back of his hand, whatever gets him the maximum amount of contact at the time, while Asch is all fingertips and ghosting brushes.

When they catch on to his little game, they tease him mercilessly, trying to drive him right out of his mind with pleasure until he forgets to catalogue all the little details of what exactly they're doing. Guy counts it as a victory.

* * *

Asch makes those short, quick nips and bites along his collarbone from the front as Luke works up his neck from behind with long, slow sucks. It drives him mad and melts him, and he would trade away the entire kingdom, world, and has in effect has traded his revenge, home, just to have this moment, or would, if he even had the capacity to think at the moment.

And the perfect rhythm and counterpoint they keep in doing it, supernatural. Maddening, blissful, tender, agonizing, wonderful.

But they're doing it again, and even those scattered fragments of thought he had been clinging to flee in the face of pure _feeling_, rapture.

Hands in perfect rhythm, synchronicity, up and down his body, pausing to catch each of his own hands between each matching pair of theirs and drawing him in, making him part of the pattern. For the first time, slowly, torturously, drawing him into the mental pattern, a dizzying vertigo of oneness that leaves him gasping for breath, elated and shaken.


	5. Discovery and Life Continues On

AN: Finally, the last piece. Yes, this is the end, for real this time. Thanks for sticking around to see me finish a multichapter fic for the first time.

* * *

"I should be the one to go," Asch says out of the blue. They are all traveling to Daath together, having nabbed Asch on their first visit to the tower. Guy is surprised, they never bring this up in front of the rest of the group.

Asch had to be talking about sacrificing himself for the world, again, and Guy knows it's going to turn into another argument between Asch and Luke about which one should give their life to save the world. No matter how many times it had been brought up, it never got resolved, just dropped in favor of an uneasy truce whenever they ran out of time or energy.

Guy is of the opinion that both are being incorrigible morons. If they would stop spending all their time arguing about which one of them should go die on the Tower of Rem, maybe they could apply that energy to finding a way to save the world that kept both of them alive.

"I've got the sword, and I'm already dy-"

Asch never gets to finish that sentence, because Guy punches him in the face before he can. He can't stand hearing the words aloud, and Asch is being stupid if he thinks revealing his condition to the rest of the group will somehow win him the argument.

Asch merely blinks in surprise, bringing his hand up to his face, and suddenly a whole bunch of assorted details make sense to Jade.

He had known that Luke and Guy were dating; they were terribly obvious in their sneaking off in his opinion. But then something unknown had happened and things had changed. Suddenly Guy would sometimes sneak off alone, and Luke would always lock himself away in his room on those nights. But sometimes it would still be Luke and Guy sneaking off. The change in their pattern had made no sense to Jade, which he very much disliked. Changes always happen for a reason, and it drove him mad not to be able to see or divine what had caused this deviation.

But Jade knows a tell when he sees one, and Guy only punches in the face the people he really, really cares about. There's probably something wrong with that, but he can't think of what. A dark idea begins forming in Jade's head, but is quickly quelled by what happens next.

Luke moves to Asch and begins tending to his face. Aside from some standard mutterings and nasty, barbed words, Asch doesn't resist. He, in fact, subtly turns to give Luke a better angle of access to the rapidly darkening bruise-to-be.

This is definitely a drastic change in behavior. Before, Asch would never have allowed his replica contact without some immediate, hostile, physical response. The others seem too distracted by the harshness of the words to notice the way his actions belie them.

The change in sneaking off makes perfect sense to him now. He must really be getting old if he hadn't realized it before. Strangely enough, what shocks Jade the most about the whole situation is that he finds himself glad to realize that Guy is not cheating on Luke, but sharing him. Or is it Luke and Asch sharing Guy? Not that it really matters, as even Jade has more human decency than to seek out the lynchpin of their relationship merely for the amusement of pulling it out and watching how it all falls apart.

In any case, it all falls into place in his mind, and he figures that he could help them with their secret, but trying to keep secrets from him is not to be condoned. So he feels it only appropriate to tease and torture the three with hints and wisps of truth to the rest of the group. Eventually they'll all figure it out, and accept it. The three seem happy enough as they are, and that is the most heavily weighted variable to most of their group.

And, now that he knows how much better terms Luke and Asch are on, he can run a certain possibility by them. Previously they'd never have agreed to it, and even if they had, with their discord they'd never have been able to pull it off. It would have only ended with both of them dead and the miasma still remaining. But there was a definite possibility, especially now, that if they combined their powers and the Tower of Rem they could both come out alive.

By the time they reached Daath, Jade's mind was buzzing with theories and possibilities that had, if not happy, at least not tragic results. Maybe they could pull out of this with something better than a Pyrrhic victory after all.


End file.
